Silent Noon
by Soubrettina
Summary: Inspired by the poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Rapunzel and Eugene were taking her visiting young cousin, and said young cousin's boyfriend, on a picnic in the surrounding countryside. Well... that was what was supposed to be happening. It isn't.


The dragonfly that hung like a blue thread loosened from the sky came after the bumblebee that blundered round checking out her dress, but Rapunzel really had no idea at which point the larks had started circling in the distance. Perhaps they had been there all along. The thrush and the cuckoo had started and stopped a few times while they had been lying there, however long that was- while she was fairly sure she hadn't been actually asleep it was sort of slowly, slowly coming to her that she had had not one thought in quite some time.

Actually, _before_ , there had been _something_ on her mind...

"You asleep?"

"Nah."

She turned her head- noticing that it was the first movement she'd made since she flopped down here- and regarded her husband- whose eyes were very slightly open, making him look all the more scandalous, lying there with every button still undone and his shirt hanging loose.

"Is there something we should be doing now?"

"No. _This_ is what we should be doing."

"Yeah."

The bumblebee visited them again, and then a red and black butterfly called in at the rosebay willowherb in the long grass they were lying in.

After that Rapunzel said:

"I just think I was concerned about something- before we sat down here... We had some responsibility or something."

"Oh no. This is what we have a responsibility to do. Just ask the Archbishop. He married us. This is within absolute propriety."

"And how noble you are in doing your duty."

"I know right? It's tiring but we both have to do it."

"Poor us." Rapunzel smiled and rolled over on her side.

Then her eyes snapped wide open and she yelled: " _Propriety_!"

"Gah! Do you have to shout?"

"Where did Anna and Kristoff go? We were supposed to be chaperoning them! Where did they even _go_?" Rapunzel leaped to her feet, and found her legs weren't quite awake yet. She sat down again. "We were getting more and more behind and then you decided you wanted to sit down and... and talked me into sitting down..."

"I was there. I know what we did."

"Well, where did they go? How long have we even being lying here?"

Eugene stretched back with his hands behind his head.

"I don't even know. It's too pastoral out here to care. I told you it was nice in the grass."

" _Eugene_! Will you take this seriously! We lost my cousin! What are we going to do? If anything happens to them-"

"Hey- hey! Don't get upset! Come here- hush, now, nothing's going to happen to them. Kristoff works in the mountains of Arendelle, remember? He won't let the two of them get into danger, and if Anna manages to find it anyway he can always get them out of it."

"I guess..."

"Certainly better than we could, my lettuce."

"I guess you're right... But that's the mountains Kristoff knows. They've never been to Corona before. They could still get lost."

"Maybe, but I made sure with Anna last night that I gave her a map and she understood where she's going to get back to the city at least."

"Right... You... Eugene, why do you sound like you knew that this was going to happen?"

"Well... You know that you, as family and a grownup married woman, weren't actually chaperoning Anna and Kristoff to keep them safe in the forest, as such?"

"No, I understand that... But what about it? Why are you trying not to smile like you've done something unnecessarily cunning?"

"Well..."

" _Eugene_! The truth. Now!"

"Well, the truth is, how can I put it? I got talking to young Anna last night. I like the girl. Spirited. I mean, as someone to talk to, of course. She's very much in love with her mountain-man, of course."

"Yes, I know that."

"You see, Kristoff isn't of Anna's nature, in some respects. Anna believes he's a little daunted by being... engaged, courting, whatever they are- with a princess- which Anna just doesn't care about at all and just wants the two of them together- the point is that Kristoff has conducted himself impeccably for a whole year, and Anna, she implied when she'd had maybe a bit of the eiswein- she's really ready to be a bit more..."

"...pecabble?"

"She didn't go into specifics. Just that she wants a couple of hours alone with him, now that they're outside her city and not on his territory, not in earshot of her sister's staff or very chatty snowmen."

"And are you encouraging this?"

"I'm not doing anything. I just think I'd give the girl a chance to do what she can with all this lovely pastoral atmosphere. All I'm doing is distracting you in a manner in keeping with any laws of propriety. What they do with their privacy is all up to them and it wouldn't be right to ask."

"So... So you did have it all planned out? I don't believe you sometimes, with your ulterior motives..."

"I don't really have ulterior motives. Why would I need ulterior motives, salatchen? It's nice in the grass. Don't be cross with me. Come and sit down again... It's hours before we need to go back. Lie down again. There." He stoked her cheek as she found a comfortable place, listening to his heartbeat.

"I'm not sleepy now."

"Well... We don't have to sleep..."

"...no?" Rapunzel raised her head and looked at her husband with intrigue. "Are you feeling rested now?"

"You could give me a kiss and find out."

"Hmm?... I might... Yes, I might... Mm... Eugene- oh... It _is_ nice in the grass..."


End file.
